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Images Festival

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Images Festival

Images has spent the last 32 years presenting media works that are challenging in their form and con

Created in 1987 as an alternative to the only other Toronto film festival at the time, Images has spent the last 32 years presenting media works that are challenging in their form and content.

05/20/2026

Metabolizing moving images through performance: Eshan Rafi in 𝘔𝘺 𝘍𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳’𝘴 𝘐𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘐𝘐 presented in partnership with and co-presented with and

[ID 1-3: In a daylit room, a person with a dark hair, in a white tshirt and brown pants kneels on a wooden floor, gesturing with their arms. The audience in the foreground, sitting on the floor or on chairs, watch the performance.]

05/19/2026

Metabolizing moving images through performance: Anouk Verviers in 𝘸𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘴 𝘵𝘶𝘮𝘣𝘭𝘦, 𝘤𝘭𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘱 curated by Katie Lawson () and in partnership with Le Labo
verviers

[ID 1-3: In a purple lit room, a performer in a reflective track suit and long hair stands amidst a scattered arrangement of pink candies on a clear plastic sheet, while an audience watches from behind.]

05/18/2026

Metabolizing moving images through performance: Mikiki in 𝘙𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘦 00.003 as a part of the program 𝘌𝘱𝘪𝘤 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘴, 𝘰𝘳, 𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 curated by Kiera Boult () and co-presented with &

[ID 1-3: A bald person in a dark shirt and shorts, wearing red knee-high socks, sits on a wooden stage. Holding an arrow made with papers and sharps, the artist turns to throw them towards a red balloon. Scattered around them are a pair of black, thigh-high boots, and various theatrical props.]

05/14/2026

Be a part of our 40th year! Submissions are now open from now until July 31st OR when we receive 1000 submissions.

→ We are looking for short, mid-length, feature-length films and video installations completed in the last 3 years.
→ The works are experimental, and aligned with our mission
→ Submission fee is $16 CAD
→ $0 for students 😎
→ All selected artists & filmmakers are paid above the recommended artist fees in accordance with rates.

Get those films in before it’s too late!

🔗 LINK IN BIO 🔗

[ID: An open call for the 40th edition of the Images Festival in 2027 is announced, with a $16 fee for general applicants and free entry for students. The deadline for submissions is July 31st, 2026. The background of the graphic is chartreuse with red text.]

05/12/2026

We are pleased to present Sophie Sabet with the Niagara Custom Lab Award 💐

Sophie Sabet is a Toronto-based visual artist working in video and installation. Drawing on family histories and domestic archives, her practice examines how displacement is inscribed in the body and how it can fragment ideological perspectives. Her work has recently been exhibited at Modern Fuel and The Robert McLaughlin Gallery, with an upcoming screening at MoMA Doc Fortnight 2026. Sabet is pursuing an MFA in Moving Image at Bard College’s Milton Avery School of Arts.

The Niagara Custom Lab Award is presented to an artist who maintains a curiosity and commitment to exploring celluloid within their films. The recipient will receive $1200 in laboratory services for processing and scanning 16mm and Super 8 motion picture film. Sponsored by Niagara Custom Lab.

Sophie’s film Return of the Bright Night was exhibited at the Bachir/Yerex Presentation Space between April 9th - 25th. This program was presented in partnership with Vtape.

Awards recipients also receives a one year MyAirBridge PRO Plan, sponsored by MyAirBridge 🌟

Thank you to this year’s incredible independent jury, Dr. Hiba Ali, Saffron Maeve and eunice bélidor for their thoughful work!

For the full list of award recipients, please visit imagesfestival.com/awards

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Image: Sophie Sabet | Return of the Bright Night | 2025 | 10 min | Canada | Farsi with English subtitles

[ID: The image appears to be an abstract, monochromatic view of layered, flowing shapes with varying shades of grey and black].

05/11/2026

We are pleased to present Tianhui Wu with the York University Award for Student Work 💐

Tianhui Wu is a Hainanese artist and filmmaker currently based in Edinburgh. Her works examine the body as politics; by blending her personal transnational cultural experiences and incorporating personal memory under collective trauma, engaging with historical and contemporary perspectives on East and Southeast Asian identity, memory and resistance.

The York University Award for Student Work is warded to student work on the screen. The prize is $500 cash, and is sponsored by York University’s Department of Cinema & Media Arts.

Tianhui’s film 过去的鬼魂在低语 (The Land Where Ghosts Could Speak) was a part of the student program our bodies hold time, curated by Ghislan Sutherland-Timm. This program was co-presented with Xpace Cultural Centre, the Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto, Video Pool Media Arts Centre, and Festival of Recorded Movement (FORM) with support from Zamalek and York University’s Department of Cinema & Media Arts.

Awards recipients also receives a one year MyAirBridge PRO Plan, sponsored by MyAirBridge 🌟

Thank you to this year’s incredible independent jury, Dr. Hiba Ali, Saffron Maeve and eunice bélidor for their thoughful work!

For the full list of award recipients, please visit imagesfestival.com/awards
thw

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Image: Tianhui Wu | 过去的鬼魂在低语 (The Land Where Ghosts Could Speak) | 2024 | 14 min | United Kingdom/China

[ID: The image shows a group of people silhouetted against a large screen displaying a black and white landscape visual with what appears to be distorted trees. The silhouettes are in the foreground, passing by the scene.]

05/10/2026

We are pleased to present Elena Calvo Polo with the For the Love of Celluloid Award 💐

Filmmaker, programmer and researcher Elena Calvo combines her professional and academic activities with cultural management of events and activities through the Algarabía Cultural Association, of which she is the founder. She has been a member of the jury at several festivals, collaborates with Casa Árabe in Córdoba and participated in the 16th edition of S8 in A Coruña. She recently organised and coordinated a week of activities around Memory and Home Movies and the Muestra de cine Palestino at Casa Árabe.

Since 1982, Main Film, located in Tiohtià:ke (Montreal), has been recognized by its peers as an artists’ center that nurtures and uplifts the emergence of a vibrant and innovative generation of filmmakers especially within the analog practice and we are proud to be defenders of the analog practice in Canada. Main Film is excited to sponsor the “For the Love of Celluloid” award, to be presented at Images Festival. This award aims to celebrate and honour the exceptional dedication and passion for celluloid film within the independent cinema scene. The prize is $500 cash and is sponsored by Main Film.

Elena’s film Fragments of was a part of the student program our bodies hold time, curated by Ghislan Sutherland-Timm. This program was co-presented with Xpace Cultural Centre, the Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto, Video Pool Media Arts Centre, and Festival of Recorded Movement (FORM) with support from Zamalek and York University’s Department of Cinema & Media Arts.

Awards recipients also receives a one year MyAirBridge PRO Plan, sponsored by MyAirBridge 🌟

Thank you to this year’s incredible independent jury, Dr. Hiba Ali, Saffron Maeve and eunice bélidor for their thoughful work!

For the full list of award recipients, please visit imagesfestival.com/awards
polo

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Image: Elena Calvo Polo | Fragments of | 2024 | 4 min | English

05/09/2026

We are pleased to present Chantal Partamian with the Radical Forms Award 💐

Chantal Partamian is an experimental and documentary filmmaker and archivist. Through their work, celluloid, memory, obsolescence, and political imaginaries merge to reflect on erasure, denial, repetition and blur.

This honour goes to an artist whose work is impervious to constraints—willful, unruly, and uncontrollable. This award was established in 2000 to honour the former Executive Director Deirdre Logue. The prize is $1,000 cash and is sponsored by Vtape, Deirdre Logue and an anonymous donor.

Chantal’s film Traces / آثار was a part of the program Monitor 16: Shadows Swept Far Away, curated by Sameena Siddiqui and Vicky Moufawad-Paul. This program was presented in partnership with SAVAC.

Awards recipients also receives a one year MyAirBridge PRO Plan, sponsored by MyAirBridge 🌟

Thank you to this year’s incredible independent jury, Dr. Hiba Ali, Saffron Maeve and eunice bélidor for their thoughful work!

For the full list of award recipients, please visit imagesfestival.com/awards

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Image: Chantal Partamian | Traces / آثار
2023 | 8:45 min

[ID: Two women are sitting close together and looking at a cell phone. The woman on the left is wearing a purple dress and the woman on the right is wearing a red dress. The image has a vintage and grainy quality.]

05/08/2026

We are pleased to present E. Jane with the Boundless Vision Award 💐

E. Jane is an interdisciplinary artist who lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. Their work focuses on Black femmeness, surveillance, labor, and performance, and uses the Black diva as a Black feminine archetype. They are curious about what the diva perceives, how she feels, and what she desires.

The Boundless Vision Award is awarded to a festival project that is expansive and imaginative in vision, while creatively resourceful in its production and ex*****on. This award was established in 2015 to honour Scott Miller Berry, who was the Executive Director at Images Festival for a decade. The prize is $1,500 cash and is sponsored by Deanna Wong, Charles Street Video, Scott Miller Berry, Oakville Galleries and an anonymous donor.

E. Jane’s film LetmeBeaWoman.Mp4 was a part of the program We’re here to please you, Baby, curated by Kiki (Kiera Boult). This program was co-presented with InterAccess, Vtape, Inside Out and Ed Video Media Arts Centre.

Awards recipients also receives a one year MyAirBridge PRO Plan, sponsored by MyAirBridge 🌟

Thank you to this year’s incredible independent jury, Dr. Hiba Ali, Saffron Maeve and eunice bélidor for their thoughful work!

For the full list of award recipients, please visit imagesfestival.com/awards

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Image: E. Jane | LetmeBeaWoman.Mp4 | 2020 | 7 min | English and African-American Vernacular English | USA

[ID: A woman in a pink velour tracksuit is shown backstage with people in the background. Purple sparkly effects and the text “BACKSTAGE” and “I just wanted to bring the energy” overlay the image.]

04/24/2026

Tomorrow is your last day to catch Sophie Sabet’s 𝘙𝘦𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘕𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵! The gallery will be open from 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Don’t miss it!

📍 Bachir/Yerex Presentation Space
440-401 Richmond St West Toronto, ON M5V 3A8

This program is presented in partnership with Vtape.

[ID: A person stands in silhouette facing a projected image of trees and sky. A wooden bench is in the foreground.]

Address

401 Richmond Street W, Suite #309
Toronto, ON
M5V3A8

Opening Hours

Tuesday	10am - 5pm
Wednesday	10am - 5pm
Thursday	10am - 6pm
Friday	10am - 6pm

Telephone

+1 416-971-8405

Website

https://www.canadahelps.org/en/charities/northern-visions-independent-video-and-film-association/

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